Robin's Psychology Lessons
by hoshizaawa
Summary: These mini-stories are informative psychology studies presented in a story style with all five titans, but mainly Robin's intellect. Read my profile for a more detailed explaination. Enjoy!
1. Chapter 1: Minnesota Twin Study

A/N: I hope you understand that this story contains some non-fiction, meant to be informative.

Disclaimer: I do not own the Teen Titans.

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Chapter 1: Minnesota Twin Study

The common room had an almost satisfied silence after Larry-the-alternate-dimension-Robin left. The five titans seemed to just stand there for a while letting the day's events catch up to them. The only one who wasn't puzzled over the prospects of an alternate dimension was Beast Boy, who let his mind wander for a while, until he came up with an interesting thought.

"Dude, what if you had a twin?"

Robin looked at him out of the side of his eyes, actually toying with the thought. He glanced at his cured finger and shook his head.

"You've got to be kidding me. After today, I don't even know if I want siblings."

This peaked Starfire's interest. "Oh but friend Robin, having the siblings is so much fun! I for one would not mind two Robins"

"..."

"Shut up, Cyborg."

"Hey, man! I didn't say nothing this time!"

Raven rolled her eyes at another argument that Beast Boy had started. Feeling exasperated, she turned to go to her room, only to be stopped by a green arm.

"I wouldn't mind two Ravens!" Beast boy grinned. "I can use one of them to play trivia with me on TV."

"Over both my dead bodies. Tell me, Robin, how much of intelligence is related to the environment? I think someone in our tower needs to have a brain check up. If he had one, that is."

Beast Boy pouted, once again having been shot down by Raven's sarcastic remarks. However, he perked up when he remembered something he had seen in the papers the other day. "Hey, I know a study in 1990 done by a man named Bou-something that tested the exact thing you're talking about, Rae!"

The other titans stared at Beast Boy like he had just used his brain. Oh wait. He did. Only Starfire seemed interested, floating to Beast Boy in curiosity.

"Oh do tell me about this relation, Beast Boy!"

Robin cleared his throat. "Actually, Star, the man's name was Bouchard, and he did a study on twins-"

"-that inherited smarts! Ow!" Beast Boy rubbed his head where Raven had whacked him.

"Stop confusing Starfire."

Smirking slightly, Robin brought the attention back to himself. "It was a study done in Minnesota, where Bouchard found over 100 sets of mono-zygotic identical twins and dizygotic-fraternal twins raised together and apart."

"Please, what is the mono..zygotic and the di...zygotic?"

"Well, Star, think of them as different types of twins. Monozygotic twins look similar while dizygotic do not..."

"But why?"

Cyborg groaned as he looked at a slightly blushing Robin. "Starfire, please don't ask any more questions."

Starfire looked indignant, but complied and continued listening to Robin.

"Okay, basically Bouchard tested them and found that the Monozygotic twins that were raised apart had a similarity of 76%, which is a very high correlation. He also stated that 70% of intelligence was because of genetics and 30% to other factors."

There was an awkward silence as no one dared to meet Beast Boy's eyes. Raven felt a tinge of guilt. She knew that Beast Boy had a brain, but like he said himself, it wasn't used that much. She glanced at Beast Boy a little sheepishly, but relaxed when she saw his slightly amused but understanding eyes.

Robin cleared his throat. "Well in any case, it was a correlational longitudinal study, and a lot of research has supported his findings. It was also a large sample, making the study more valid" He looked at Starfire, who appeared to be slightly confused.

Cyborg sighed. "I don't know why y'all are actually listening to this, but it means that the relationship between the twins show that genetics affect their intelligence more than their environment."

"There are way too many assumptions in this."

All heads now turned to Raven, who looked slightly peeved. They waited patiently for the critique they knew was coming.

"Bouchard assumed that the twins who were raised together experienced the same environment. There was also no control over how much contact the twins reared apart had." She rolled her eyes. "I'm going to my room to read."

Sensing that the fun was over, Beast Boy hopped on Cyborg's shoulders. "Tin Man, challenge you to Super Monkeys Racing Deluxe!"

"You're on grass-stain!"

And with that, there were only two.

Robin smiled at Starfire. "Was that interesting?"

Starfire shot a soft smile of her own. "Yes! Your Earthly ways are still so intriguing to me. Why do you conduct these studies of your own people? I would like to know more!"

"Ah, how about another day Star? Let's go watch the boys."

Just then, a cry of outrage came from the couch behind them. Starfire laughed. "Of course! I will bring the popping of corn."


	2. Chapter 2: Compliance Techniques

Chapter 2: Compliance Techniques

The cool breeze of spring visited Jump City, rustling through the leaves softly and bringing a hint of cherry blossoms. It was a beautiful day, until an irritated scream sprung from the giant T near the city shorelines.

"BEEEAASST BOOYYYY!"

Starfire zipped around the hallway to Robin's door, where the screen had come from. Upon sliding it open, she witnessed a strange scene. Robin was on the floor, wrestling what seemed to be a spoon. Her eyes traveled from his clenched fists to a forest green one, that seemed to be getting the upper hand. Beast Boy narrowed his eyes in determination, forcing Robin closer and closer to the spoon.

"Friends! What has happened?" Starfire's clear voice cut through the struggle between the boys.

Instantly, Beast Boy jumped back from his position in pinning Robin down and straightened up with a guilty look.

"Ah, Star! Don't worry, we were just arguing on who would get to sample your newest concoction first. Mmmmm mmm good!"

With a guilty glance at Robin, Beast Boy quickly dropped the spoon back into a bowl of glowing green goo-like substance, and shoved them into Robin's unsuspecting hands.

"On second thought, Robin, I'll be generous and you can have this one!", said Beast Boy, as he slowly began inching for the door. Ducking under Starfire's arms, Beast Boy dashed out of the room.

Robin stared at the bowl in his hands, with a sense of impending doom. Suddenly, a pair of bronze hands took the strange mixture away from him. Looking up, Robin felt a pang of worry, unsure if he had offended Starfire with his look.

Instead, Starfire smiled at him. "It is okay Robin." She picked up the spoon and sampled a little bit of her own creation. Chewing thoughtfully, she sighed, "I have not yet learned how the taste buds of your Earthly ways work. One day, I shall create a dish that all will enjoy! If only I could find more willing taste testers, so I can remember what you consider delicious. "

Amused by her optimism, Robin let his previous worries wash away. Starfire really wasn't all that naïve that she appeared to be. Suddenly, his eyes glinted as a brilliant idea popped into his head.

"Actually, Starfire, would you like to learn a few ways on how to easily gain taste testers for your dishes?"

Starfire looked interested at the sudden change in Robin's tone, and his eyes became almost mischievous, like when Beast Boy had an idea for a new prank. However, the prospects for willing taste testers won her over.

"How might I achieve this, friend Robin?"

"Come sit down, this might take a few minutes." Robin sat down on his bed and patted the space next to him. "Now, have you ever heard of the word "compliance"?"

"Compliance? I do not believe so. Is it a kind of edible mass?"

Robin chuckled, happy to be teaching someone his knowledge. "No, it is a kind of technique that allows one to become submissive to another's requests. For example, Cyborg readily saying yes to trying one of your meals."

"But friend Cyborg has never done that before!"

The thought of Cyborg being forced to try one of Starfire's concoctions encouraged Robin to keep explaining.

"Well, I have a method that might just work. You see, in compliance methods, there is a rule of reciprocracy. It is everywhere in the human world, and beyond. I am certain it exists even on Tamaran."

Starfire glanced at Robin skeptically. "Recipe racey?"

"Reciprocracy. It is when an individual feels the need to return the good or bad behaviours of another. Do you remember when you offered to meditate with Raven? Didn't she offer to go to the mall with you almost instantly afterwards? This is a natural compulsion to return the good intentions of another."

Pondering on Robin's words, Starfire's eyes lit up. "I understand! I have seen this on the television. A man named Regan used the coca-cola and asked people to buy his tickets with ruffles!"

There was really no end to Starfire's random trivia, Robin thought fondly. "That's right Star. I think you mean raffles though. In 1971 Regan asked participants to rate pieces of art and he had 2 different groups. One group, the control, had him leave the art room for a break and return later. However, in the treatment group he left but came back with two cokes, one for him and the participant. Regan then asked the participants if they were willing to buy raffle tickets for a new car, where if he sold the most, he would win a prize of 50 dollars."

"Oh! So what happened to the Regan?"

"Well, he found that the people whom he gave the coke to bought twice as many raffle tickets as the ones who he did not."

Starfire thought about this for a bit. "You are saying I should do the "favour" for friend Cyborg and Beast Boy, yes?"

"Erm...yes. You catch on quite quickly, Star." Robin fidgeted a little uncomfortably, cursing his teenager mind. "Let me tell you about some other ways too."

"Do they also contain this Regan?"

Getting back into the swing of his "teaching", Robin smirked. "No, the next one is one of my favourite techniques, called "Door-in-the-face". It is a kind of manipulation where an individual offers something very unreasonable, and then offers a slightly more reasonable solution."

"Do you mean when you threaten Beast Boy and Cyborg to either eat my food or clean the refrigerator?" Starfire asked innocently.

"Ah..." Robin shifted uncomfortably. "Well, perhaps. In any case, a man named Cialidini in 1975 did this to some students, where he asked if they were willing to chaperon a group of juveniles to the zoo. 83% said no.

"The juveniles at the zoo..they are bad?"

"For regular students, I am sure it is a little scary because they need to have committed crime to be juveniles. But regardless, when Cialidini did the same request on a second group, he first asked if anyone was willing to sign up for two hours as a counselor for a minimum for two years. No one volunteered, but when he suggested the chaperoning, around 50% said yes."

Starfire repeated, "And this is Door-in-the-face, yes?"

"Yes. It is very similar to a third way."

"Robin, do you do these techniques of compliance on our friends?" Starfire questioned.

Robin suddenly realized the amount of trust he had put into Starfire, unwittingly uncovering some of his unspoken leadership tactics to her. Turning slightly red, he was about to stutter an excuse when Starfire put a hand on his shoulder.

"It is okay Robin, I understand. This is very interesting to hear about, what is the third way?"

Heaving a grateful sigh, Robin decided that maybe, having a little bit of trust wasn't so bad after all. Batman may have conditioned him, but Robin was his own bird. "Well Star, do you know what commitment is?"

"Yes Robin."

"In 1985, A man named Deutsch performed a commitment experiment."

"Gerard?"

"Deutsch."

For some reason Starfire could not form the word Deutsch without it sounding like Gerard. Robin quirked an eyebrow. Well this was interesting; perhaps one day Starfire could learn the German language. He blushed slightly as he remembered how exactly Starfire learned languages. Nevermind, Robin thought. She'll just have to perfect her English instead..

Starfire looked at Robin who seemed to be caught up in his own thoughts. "Robin!"

"Ah!" Robin, startled and slightly ashamed to be caught daydreaming in front of Starfire, cleared his voice and continued. "Anyway, Deutsch asked college students to estimate a line that they were shown. Group 1 were asked to write their estimate down, group two wrote it on a "Magic Pad" that was later erased, and Group 3 only thought about it in their heads. They were then shown that their estimates could have been wrong. The group that actually wrote down their estimate were less likely to change their opinions"

Starfire nodded thoughtfully. "Friend-Robin?"

"Yes, Star?"

"Would you like to not have the pleasure to not partake in a trip to the mall with me?"

"Ah, no thanks, I'm a little-"

"JOYOUS! LET US GO IMMEDIATELY. I THANK YOU FOR THE COMPLIANCE LESSONS ROBIN!" Starfire gleefully pulled Robin out of his room.

Confused and caught up in Starfire's iron grip, Robin suddenly had a thought. Did Starfire just use a double reversal on him?!


End file.
